From Boston to San Diego, Companies Maneuver to Catch Online Video Wave

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Apple’s recent launch of the iPad has triggered intensifying interest in online video distribution, which seems to be reflected in a string of announcements that coincide with today’s kickoff of the National Association of Broadcasters’ annual conference in Las Vegas.

As if reminding everyone of the size of their network, Cambridge, MA-based Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ: AKAM), announced today that unprecedented demand for online coverage of major sport events—including streaming video—pushed traffic on its global network to a single-day peak of 3.45 terabits per second on Friday. That’s roughly equivalent to the capacity needed to download the entire text of the U.S. Library of Congress in less than a minute.

The company noted that surging interest in major sporting events, including professional golf and baseball, helped to drive traffic to a new peak for high definition streaming video—part of a network platform that Akamai launched in 2009. San Diego-based VMIX also announced today it has broadened its relationship with Akamai by standardizing its online video capabilities with Akamai’s HD Network.

As Wade recently reported, Brightcove, another Cambridge, MA, company that has been a longtime proponent of Adobe’s Flash-based digital video technology, has moved to … Next Page »